Downing and Sinelli suspended 1 game each
February 17th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
I'm surprised Downing didn't get 2 since he had two ejections two nights in a row.
And can we not assume Michigan is going to roll penn state like the result is already in the books??
That didn't go so well last time. They aren't as bad as their record. Michigan has to humiliate them and play to run up the score.
February 17th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^
February 17th, 2014 at 6:17 PM ^
So they can feel good about abusing one of the worst major teams in D1? Goal differential doesn't count for anything
February 17th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^
In addition to making both Michigan and Penn State look bad, playing a full on contested game when you don't need to is stupid to the nth degree.
I'm not advocating pee-wee "make three passes and only defenseman can shoot" pretty much ever, but going up and playing dump and chase and cycling through lines is the way to get through the game with the smallest opportunity for bad outcomes, both in terms of injury/fatigue and allowing the team that's down an opportunity to break up a play in transition for an odd-man break. This is all assuming we can get into a position where we're up 5-0 or 6-1 early enough for it to matter, of course.
February 17th, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
Assuming we get the lead, just to do them what everyone does to us when we get down. Clog the neutral zone and just dump it back. It is so frustrating when I watch bad teams to that to us because we got ourselves down by multiple goals (see: losing to PSU 4-0)
February 17th, 2014 at 5:23 PM ^
Mike Chiasson is the only clear replacement right now. So for the 2nd spot we have Kevin Lohan, Mike Szuma and Spencer Hyman. Lohan has been hurt since November, Szuma and Hyman haven't played this year.
February 17th, 2014 at 5:32 PM ^
Sinelli's was deserved. Both ejections for Downing were bad calls, though the first was more reasonable than the second, which was a clean hit where the Gopher player had his head down like an idiot.
February 17th, 2014 at 5:35 PM ^
But in the NCAA it doesn't matter if his head is down or not, the onus is on the player delivering the check to avoid the head as a principle point of contact. Pretty much all of the Kronwall'd hits would be suspension worthy using the NCAA rulebook, for instance.
February 17th, 2014 at 5:41 PM ^
As I mentioned in the game thread, after a few big hits last year Trouba couldn't hit anyone without going to the box.
This is the 3rd one for Downing in two weeks. He didn't get called against Penn State but Nate Jensen missed the MSU series with a concussion. He's going to have to be careful with his hitting from here on out.
February 17th, 2014 at 6:38 PM ^
If he didn't end up on people's watch list on Friday, he sure as heck did with the hit Saturday and being in the news now for the suspension means he's going to have to tread lightly for a while.
I think it's unfortunate. I thought the hits vs PSU and the Friday Minnesota game were fine but Saturday he crossed the line
February 17th, 2014 at 5:50 PM ^
I disagree I think Downing's suspension was very deserved. It is true the player had his head down but as Justingoblue pointed out that doesn't shift blame to the player receiving the hit. Downing clearly raised his elbow and delivered the blow to the head. We are lucky it isn't more games.
Being at Penn State for the 4-0 loss, I'm a little worried about this series being a trap. Penn State's game plan is to get pucks to the net and if we don't have solid D clearing the zone I could see us giving up quite a few bad goals.
February 17th, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^
He clearly deserved it. We're fortunate he didn't get more than one game. You can't hit a guy like that leading with your elbow. And the timing was terrible. Any hope we had of tieing the game up went out the window.
February 17th, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^
I'm not sold on Downing. I was surprised he got tossed Friday, not surprised Saturday. If anything I'd expect Sinelli to get 2+ and Downing to get none
February 17th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
Also worth noting that because Downing now has two game misconducts, any additional game misconducts he gets this season carry an automatic one-game suspension as well.